


Want You to Know Who I Am

by McKat



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: But whatever, Coworkers to lovers, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Goo Goo Dolls, Idiots in Love, Iris - Freeform, M/M, Sort Of, artemis fowl references, injured james bond, more like, song-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24834310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McKat/pseuds/McKat
Summary: Bond gets injured on a mission and sent to Q Branch to assist Q on his new tech.-----Or: Bond gets hurt, falls for Q, and turns out to be a pretty rotten spy
Relationships: James Bond & Q, James Bond/Q
Comments: 6
Kudos: 125





	Want You to Know Who I Am

**Author's Note:**

> I have never written for this fandom before, so I hope I got characterization at least decent. 
> 
> I do not have any rights to any characters or references, I only own this work.

**_Bond_ **

James Bond walked into Q Branch to receive his gear for the upcoming op. It was going to be a simple surveillance mission, which meant Q would likely have new gadgets. It always intrigued him to see what he was given to use, even if he never managed to keep it in one piece. 

Upon turning the corner, he was taken aback for a moment. 

Q wasn’t wearing his glasses. 

Now, Bond wasn’t one to fail noticing a pretty face hidden behind hideous lenses, but that ability had apparently not been extended to Q. But, without the thick frames, it was impossible to ignore the fact the man was handsome. Strikingly so. Bond, not inexperienced at being surprised, managed to keep his expression under control save a raised eyebrow. 

“Q. Contacts?”

“Sort of.” The younger man looked up from the equipment he had been setting out. “Testing out something myself.”

“Disposable lenses? Hate to tell you, dear, but those have already happened.”

Q rolled his eyes. “Iris cams.”

“Iris… like in those Artemis Fowl books?”

It was Q’s turn to be taken aback. “You’ve read them?”

“What, do you think my literature selection consists solely of le Carré? I like to listen to books on tape while traveling, and found them on sale. I simply ask you don’t take up wearing a tinfoil hat.”

As he spoke, Bond got close enough to realize that there was an almost imperceptible wiring mechanism on the younger man’s eyes, around the pupil. 

“I’ll have you know,” Q said, “Foaly is my favorite character. Anyways, the concept is the same. A camera in the contact lens that can provide a live stream of what the agent is seeing. Less obvious than a tie clip or brooch. There are issues, of course, which I’ll do you a favor and not bore you with. Now, for your trip to Amsterdam - don’t say it, I did not make an exploding pen. Don’t even ask.”

——-

“You know, double-oh seven, you excel at turning a ‘surveillance only’ op into a shootout.”

“It’s one of my many talents. It’s only a broken arm, I’ve gotten worse.”

“You broke your arm in three places and twisted your ankle. I am tempted to cause you to experience worse,” M said with a deep sigh. “I can’t exactly put you out in the field with only one good arm and leg. Especially with your inability to not turn even the simplest missions into running for your life. No, I’ll assign you to duties around here.” 

M looked through the papers on his desk before finding a folder. “Ah, here you are.” He handed Bond a slim folder labeled “Iris.” “Q has requested I give him an agent to help test his new equipment and now I don’t have to worry about you running away. Report to Q Branch immediately.”

Bond stood, somewhat slower than normal given the boot on his foot, and took his leave of the office, glancing through the schematics in the folder. While by no means an idiot, several formulae and multiple phrases of jargon went quite over his head. He decided he’d just ask Q to explain it in layman’s terms. 

——-

“Ah, good to see you, Bond. I’ll save us both the trouble of asking if you managed to salvage any of my tech and go ahead and ask what you’re looking for.”

“You, in fact. M assigned me to the Iris project while I’m… indisposed.”

Q seemed almost surprised for a moment before schooling his features. “Ah. Of course. Well, if you will go on to my office I will be there shortly. Go ahead and read through that file if you would, as well.”

Bond nodded and made his way to Q’s office. True to his word, the younger man entered soon afterwards. “So you see the issues I’ve been having.”

“Well… sort of. You’re aware I don’t hold a master’s in physics, correct?”

Q nodded. “Of course, I have seen your file once or twice, you know. And besides, this is primarily electrical engineering with a small bit of biology. Not a lot of physics.”

“Yes, well, you will have to simplify most of this for me. I think I grasp the basics, but if you would give me a crash course.”

Q smiled slightly despite himself and went to push up his glasses before realizing they weren’t there. “Force of habit,” he chuckled. “So, it’s impossible to make cameras invisible, correct? So of course, there’s an issue of being able to see.”

“I can see where that could be an issue. No pun intended,” he added in a tone implying that the pun was definitely intended. 

Q rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored the wordplay. “Indeed. I have a few ideas on how to fix it, which is where I need an agent’s help. I’ll fix up a rudimentary model of each and have you test them as you believe they would be used in the field and give me your feedback.”

“Seems simple enough.”

Q smirked. “For you, you only have to shoot things. I have to make the little buggers.” 

——-

In Q Branch a few weeks later, Bond lowered the empty pistol. “I believe that was the best test yet,” he said. 

The target was not far from Bond’s baseline, with only a little more scatter. Given his shooting one handed, that was to be expected anyway. Q didn’t look up from his laptop as he removed the ear protection. “Yes, I think we’re close to the ideal Iris Cam. If you would go ahead and log anything you noticed, I have a meeting soon. I shouldn’t be long.” He finished typing and then clicked on the mouse a few times before sliding the computer to Bond. “If you would log out and then go to your user interface, I have to run, I’m late as it is.” He grabbed his jacket and practically ran out of the door. 

Bond nodded and waved before turning to make sure he was still alone. He was, of course. It was seven at night on a Friday, and all of the Q Branch minions had left for home. He was the only one in the shooting range just off the garage. 

“Hope you don’t mind, Q. Occupational hazard, working with spies and all,” Bond murmured to himself as he began snooping. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Q, of course. Having worked with the man quite closely for several days, and before that relying on his voice in Bond’s ear to decide between life and death, he definitely respected the younger man. But, of course, spying isn’t exactly a habit one breaks easily. Not to mention the habit of curiosity. 

Bond scrolled through his email for a moment before getting bored. Nothing there. Personal account or office account. Well, nothing aside from state secrets and enough weapons intel to fuel a militia for years. That wasn’t what Bond was looking for, though. 

Honestly, he had no idea what he was looking for. Nothing in particular. Just some insight on who the man was outside of MI6. Evidence of a life outside of Her Majesty’s service. 

He had almost given up hope after scrolling through search history and even music downloads (with a note-to-self to subtly introduce the man to better music - Goo Goo Dolls? Really?) before he found the photo folder. 

There weren’t very many pictures on the computer, which he supposed made sense. Each folder of photos seemed to correspond with a project. Nothing very intriguing, at least until the mouse hovered over the folder labeled “Iris Project.” 

It brought up a selection of photos, and, upon a second look, Bond realized one of them was him.

He opened the folder, after another cursory sweep to make sure he was still alone, and scrolled. 

Half of the photos were of him. This in itself wasn’t surprising. They had been working on it together for a few days, and Bond had likely been the person Q saw the most in that time. 

It was the photos themselves. Most were when Bond was not looking. In these, he was still in focus, meaning… meaning Q watched him when he wasn’t looking. He recognized some of them, and knew they hadn’t been talking in some time when they were taken. This meant that Q must have looked up at him while working. Somewhat frequently, at that.

Scrolling some more, he found a few focused on his own rear, which made him almost feel a blush coming on. These were rare photos, given the fact he was wearing a boot until a few days earlier, but they were definitely there. 

For the most part, the photos were just him. It almost seemed sweet, the fact all these photos had been saved from Q’s Iris Cam’s feed. But why did he save them? 

Before he could do much to decide the answer to that question, he saw the door open into Q Branch and the familiar form of the Quartermaster slipping between desks and monitors. Bond quickly closed photos and opened the document he was supposed to be adding observations to. When Q entered the gun range again, Bond had typed several lines of mostly coherent analysis of the Iris Cam’s performance. “How was the meeting?”

“Oh, boring, of course. I beat several more levels of Candy Crush. But don’t tell M.” 

Bond smiled back at him, “I wouldn’t dare.”

—————

**_Q_ **

Q looked up to see Bond walk into Q Branch. If not for the fact he worked with spies for a living and had become adept at reading facial features, the flicker of surprise would not have even registered. He suddenly felt vulnerable without his glasses on, but ignored it while talking to Bond. 

The man was full of surprises, and Q usually made an effort not to let any new discoveries shock him. Learning he read Artemis Fowl, and could reference it with ease, surprised him ore than probably anything else could have. 

Q kept that to himself, though. 

—————

After Bond made his way to Q’s office, Q turned to R, who had not-so-subtly been eavesdropping.

“R, did you hear that?”

“Yes, I did. You have a new minion to boss around,” she said with a grin. 

Q scoffed “I’m not sure it would be wise to ‘boss’ a man who will be using guns in the same room as me for the foreseeable future.”

R looked at Bond through the window to Q’s office and shrugged. “I don’t know. He might like being bossed.”

Q blushed and tried to push up his glasses before realizing they weren’t there. 

R laughed. “Maybe you’ll find out your love is in fact requited.” 

“I don’t-“ Q started before stopping and lowering his voice to a more dignified tone. “I’m not  _ in love _ with double-oh-seven. The man is a nightmare. He just happens to be an attractive one.”

“Hmm. If you say so,” but she made no effort to hide her smirk. “Well, don’t keep him waiting. Go along, I’ll keep an eye on you from here.”

Q sniffed. “I’m sure you will,” he muttered, stalking towards his office to meet his new lab partner. 

—————

_ This could have been an email,  _ Q thought in the department meeting. He had no idea what was actually being discussed, but no one had acknowledged his general existence since he sat in a chair in the conference room about ten minutes earlier, so he figured it wasn’t relevant to his Branch. 

He subtly checked his phone under the table, trying to see if it was going to be raining as he went home that night, but got distracted when he saw the icon for the Iris project on his home screen. 

Bond was likely still wearing his Iris cam. What would it hurt to look? Bond was supposed to be writing a report anyways, and if he was doing something other than that then Q would need to know in order to ensure privacy. 

And so, Q justified opening the app to himself. And quickly excused himself to the restroom, feeling his face drain of all color. 

Safely closed into a stall, Q sat and held his arms, trying to catch his breath. “Thought I had grown out of having panic attacks in the bathroom when I was in high school,” he murmured to himself as he tried to steady his breathing. 

_ Ok. So he knows I’ve been looking at him. What does that matter? He and I have been working closely for weeks.  _

_ Does he know I’ve purposefully saved those? _

_ How could he know that? _

_ He is a spy. They know a lot of things. He might can tell that I saved those specifically.  _

_ Oh no did he find the ones with me looking at his ass?  _

_ Surely not. _

_ No, he definitely did.  _

Finally Q stood and went to the sink, taking a paper towel and dampening it to wipe at his face. “It’ll be alright. Don’t bring it up. He doesn’t know you know. Just wait and see how he reacts.”

He took a final deep breath before leaving the restroom. 

—————

**_Bond_ **

“Hold still, Bond.” 

James sighed and tried to stop fidgeting. Being in Q Branch for so long without going into the field made him feel stir-crazy. Not to mention the fact his workout routine was greatly impacted by the loss of his left arm’s mobility and the way the cast threw off his center of balance. All in all, the fact Q hadn’t simply picked up a pistol and shot him was a testament to the man’s patience. 

“Why is this taking so long?”

“Because if I don’t get the color exactly right, it could draw attention. We are field testing this in a building full of spies, you know.”

James took a deep breath, and willed himself to keep still and hold his eyes open. Another reason he was fidgety was the intense focus of the Quartermaster’s gaze. Trying to perfect the color of Bond’s eyes apparently required a good deal of staring. So James decided to try and memorize Q’s eyes around the cameras covering parts of his pupils in return. For science. Of course. 

He was just deciding whether Q’s eyes were gray or green when he came to the realization that Q had not looked down at his notes in some time, and the eye contact felt less clinical suddenly. 

“Q, I…” James started. 

“Yes, Bond?”

“Please. James.” 

Q nodded. “Yes, James?” 

Bond felt a shiver flow down his spine at the way Q said his first name, but he tried not to show it. “I… I found the photos on your laptop.”

“I know.”

James blinked. “You… what?”

“You still had the Iris Cams in, daft man. I can see what you see from my cell phone. Do you think I could pass an opportunity to make sure you were doing your work while sitting in a boring meeting?”

Bond frowned. “Why didn’t you -“

Q shrugged. “I didn’t really know how. Or what you thought. I just thought it would be easier if I waited to see if you hated me or -”

“Q, I don’t. I’m actually…” he sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking away from Q. “I don’t really know - I’m not sure how to say it.”

“I think I should come clean first. I’m… I’m attracted to you. And I understand if you do not feel the same-”

“I do.”

“And I completely accept that fact- wait. Wait. You-” Q cut off and stood up, pacing around the office nervously. “I wasn’t expecting you to actually - I mean, I had hopped, but-”

Bond stood and placed a hand on Q’s arm. “Q. Breathe.”

“I didn’t even - I thought you were straight?”

Bond simply sighed. “Just, breathe. Calm yourself.”

Q nodded, and looked into Bond’s eyes. “Bond, I -”

“James. Please.”

Q nodded again, “James. I just, how long have you… um…”

“I can’t say I’m completely sure. Can you?”

Q shook his head. “We don’t have to, I mean, if you don’t want to, you know…”

James shook his head. “Let’s just take it a step at a time. But I think I have an idea for a first one.”

Before Q could ask, Bond slowly closed the distance between their lips, meeting Q’s eyes as he did, watching for any sign of hesitance.

There was none.

\---------

**_Q_ **

They kissed, standing in Q’s office. It was a slow, chaste affair, but Q could still feel his heart trying to jump out of his chest. He had fantasized this, when his mind wandered, but always stopped himself once he realized what he had been thinking. But the real thing, oh, it didn’t compare to anything Q could have expected, or even hoped for. 

After a moment, Q realized that Bond’s hand was in his hair, while Q stood there stock-still. He slowly slid his hands onto Bond’s hips, pulling him close, and then moved one hand between Bond’s shoulder blades. It was somewhat awkward, with Bond’s cast between their bodies, but it was still unbelievable to Q. 

Some unknown amount of time later, they put some distance between themselves and caught their breath. 

“I just realized,” Q panted, “that I accidentally left the shades open, and the entire branch can see us.”

Bond looked past Q’s shoulder to see a small gaggle of minions that were clustered at the window scatter quickly. “Don’t worry, no one was looking.”

Q buried his face in Bond’s chest, and James held him close with his good arm. “Now what?”

“Now I believe we have some more work to do. Then, once we are done, if you don’t have any plans, I am going to take you to dinner.”

Q smiled up at the taller man. “I believe I can clear my schedule.”

\----------

**_Bond_ **

A few days later, Bond walked to M’s office. “You asked to see me, sir?”

M gestured to the seat across the desk, not looking up from the file he held for a few seconds. He then looked up at Bond. “007, I hear you have made progress on the Iris project?”

Bond nodded, “yes, sir. We are in the testing phase now, but I believe it will be a useful asset in the field.”

M nodded, and set the file down. “I also hear that you and Q are… working well together.” There was a lot left unsaid, and Bond had to work to keep himself from flinching. 

“Of course, sir. Q is a very talented Quartermaster, and we are lucky to have him.”

M smirked a little bit at the mostly professional response. “What kind of testing are you putting the Iris Cams through? Making sure they will work during Honeypot missions?”

Bond kept his face neutral, but felt his stomach drop. “I don’t take your meaning, sir.”

“My meaning is that you and the Quartermaster were seen snogging in the middle of Q branch by a half dozen workers. It is hard to keep secrets in a building full of people that are trained in espionage, but could you two at least  _ try _ to be subtle?”

“Strictly speaking sir, we were in Q’s office and he had forgotten to shut the blinds.”

M sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not the point, Bond.” He sat the file in front of James and gestured for him to open it.

“I have an offer for you, but I’m going to need you to promise you will be able to behave.”

\----------

**_Q_ **

Q was in his flat cooking dinner. James had asked if he could come over, saying he had important news. Q couldn’t tell if it was good or bad, and was anxious. Cooking wasn’t enough to take his mind off of it, so he turned on some music as well. As he cooked, he sang along with the lyrics.

“ _ And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t coming, _

_ When the moment of truth has arrived. _

_ When everything feels like the movies,  _

_ Yeah you bleed just to know you’re alive.” _

He heard a knock and looked up to see Bond walk in holding a file. “Q, love, I have  _ got _ to introduce you to better music.”

Q rolled his eyes and took the skillet off of heat, walking over to take Bond’s hand. “James, dear, this is a  _ classic _ , what’s wrong with the Goo Goo Dolls?”

“Aside from the band’s name?”

Q shook his head and forced Bond to slow dance with him. There was no skill involved, just swaying for the most part, but they were both smiling (Bond despite himself) as Q sang the chorus.

_ “And I don’t want the world to see me, _

_ ‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand. _

_ When everything’s made to be broken, _

_ I just want you to know who I am.” _

“What’s this song called anyway?”

Q smiled. “Why? Do you like it?”

Bond shrugged, smiling back. “Maybe. What’s for dinner?”

“Stir fry. Now. What’s the big news?”

“Maybe we should sit.”

Q bit his lip, feeling nervous, but turned off the music and led Bond to his couch. 

“Well, you know how my arm just isn’t getting better as fast as it should?”

Q nodded slowly, having no idea where Bond was going with that. “What about it?”

“According to the doctor at my last checkup, I got too injured and took too long to get it seen about.”

Q’s eyebrows raised, and Bond used his good hand to cover Q’s knee. “It’s not serious. It will get mostly better. It just will never be the same, and it will be very easy for me to hurt it in the future. So I’m being forced to retire.”

Q gaped. “You… you’re retiring? Has a double-oh ever retired?”

Bond nodded. “Yes, they’re just fairly rare. But M has offered me something new.”

Q looked at the file. “He’s sending you away, isn’t he,” Q said slowly.

“No, no, of course not, love. Quite the opposite.” He handed Q the file. 

It contained a number of his own reports, each of which requested an agent to test out new equipment. “If you’ll have me, I’ll be in Q Branch. Only part time. I am retired, after all.”

Q’s jaw dropped, as he looked through the file. “He wants you to work with me? Doesn’t he know?”

“He does. That was a somewhat awkward conversation. Phrases like ‘get a room’ and ‘behave yourselves’ were thrown about. I felt like I was in grade school again,” he quipped with a smile. “So, will you have me?”

Q smiled wide and kissed Bond hard on the lips. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” James said with a laugh, before returning the kiss.

  
  
  


Dinner ended up getting cold before they got around to eating it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated and help motivate me to write more.
> 
> Yes, I used the song Iris. Yes, I am incredibly proud and think that was quite clever. No, I will not be taking criticism on that particular aspect of this story at this time. Yes, I have seen the new Artemis Fowl movie and no, I am Not Happy About It.
> 
> "Iris" is one of my favorite songs ever, I just thought it would be funny to have Bond jokingly criticize Q's music taste.


End file.
